Why we focus on the Nikkei JPN225

The platform being open all day does not mean all day is tradeable

Open a trading platform and you can click at almost any hour. Three in the morning included.

So most people conclude that time is not the problem.

That is exactly where the problem is. Being able to trade and being suited to trade are two different things.

Being able to trade is about whether the platform is open. Being suited to trade is about whether you can read what the chart is doing in that stretch of time.

You can click at three in the morning. What the chart is saying then, you probably cannot see — and you have work tomorrow.

What “suited to trade” actually means

When we say suited, we mean three things holding at once:

One: the movement is steady

Not large movement — steady movement.

Large and disorderly movement makes the chart jump and your judgement lags behind it. Steady movement has a rhythm; a rhythm can be read, and entries and exits have something to stand on.

Two: you can read the chart

The same chart looks different in a session with volume and one without. With no volume behind it, a single candle can mislead you.

Three: you are there for it

The most practical of the three, and the most often ignored.

A session that is genuinely suited to trading, but which falls while you are in a meeting, collecting the children or asleep, does not exist as far as you are concerned.

So which index has windows that fit a Malaysian day

This is our only reason for choosing the Nikkei.

Index	Suitable sessions (Malaysian time)
Nikkei JPN225	morning, afternoon and evening
US indices (NAS100, US30)	evening only
German GER40	afternoon and evening

The main session for US indices falls late at night — that is when the market behind them is open, and it cannot be changed. The German index is better, with both afternoon and evening.

What is different about the Nikkei is not that it is easier. It is that it has more than one window. Morning, afternoon and evening.

For the actual hours, see this piece: Nikkei JPN225: which hours suit trading in Malaysian time?

What that means for your week

Most people are not short of method. They are short of a stretch of time they can concentrate in.

If your evenings are all you have, US indices work and so does the Nikkei. If you only have mornings, or the hour or two after lunch, the list comes down to one.

That is why we focus on the Nikkei. Not because it rises more, but because it leaves more people with a choice.

How to fit it around a full-time job: Which index suits someone with a full-time job?

Getting the hours right is still not enough

A window that fits you only gets you to the desk. What you look at once you are there is a separate matter.

We look at three things: the candle, the direction, the momentum.

All three agreeing is an entry. Anything less is a wait — and waiting is itself a decision.

The hours settle whether you can turn up. The three things settle whether you act once you have. You need both.

Common questions

Is the Nikkei easier money?

No. We have never said so and we will not. No index is easier money — there is only whether its hours and your judgement suit each other. The Nikkei's advantage is more windows, not higher returns.

Does that mean I cannot trade the others?

You can. US and German indices both work. What needs separating is being able to trade and being present and clear-headed in that session. If you still judge well after eleven at night, US indices are fine.

Do the Nikkei's suitable hours shift?

Yes. They move with daylight-saving changes, which is why we state hours in Malaysian time (GMT+8) and follow the platform's actual trading hours rather than the exchange's official ones. The hours piece is updated accordingly.

Why not just say which index will rise?

Because nobody knows. What we teach is judging whether to act now, not predicting what comes next. That is covered more fully in How do you judge whether a trading course is worth it?

Most people treat choosing an index as choosing an easier opponent. It is closer to choosing a timetable that fits the life you already have.

Watch Teddy's weekly live

We do not guarantee returns. We do not trade on anyone's behalf. This is market education, not personal investment advice. Working through this properly takes at least three months of sustained effort. Markets carry the risk of loss — decide what you can afford to risk before you begin.